Expositional Preaching

What Makes for Good Preaching?

Every Christian who has sat under faithful preaching knows it when they hear it. There is something about a sermon that opens the Word of God with clarity, honesty, and conviction — that does not impose ideas onto the text but draws them out of it — that leaves the listener feeling not just informed but encountered by the living God.

But what exactly is happening in that kind of preaching? What does a preacher have to believe, and what does he have to do, to stand before a congregation and handle the Word of God faithfully week after week?

In Expositional Preaching, pastor and Bible teacher David Helm answers these questions with the clarity and practicality of someone who has spent decades both preaching and training preachers. This short, accessible volume outlines what must be believed and accomplished to become a faithful expositor of God's Word — offering step-by-step guidance for those who preach, while equipping every listener to recognise, appreciate, and hunger for good preaching when they hear it.

This is a book for preachers. And it is a book for every Christian who wants to understand what faithful preaching is and why it matters.

What This Book Covers

David Helm works through the convictions and practices that make for faithful expositional preaching:

• What expositional preaching actually is — A clear definition that cuts through confusion and gets to the heart of what it means to expose the meaning of a biblical text
• What a preacher must believe — The theological convictions about Scripture, the gospel, and the role of preaching that must undergird faithful exposition
• What a preacher must do — Practical, step-by-step guidance on how to read, interpret, and proclaim a biblical text faithfully and clearly
• Common failures in preaching — An honest account of the ways preaching goes wrong — and how to avoid them
• The difference between expositional and other kinds of preaching — Why not all Bible-based preaching is expositional, and why the distinction matters
• Preaching and the health of the church — How faithful, expositional preaching is foundational to everything else that makes a church healthy
• Equipping the congregation — How understanding expositional preaching helps every church member listen better, grow more, and recognise faithful preaching when they hear it

What Readers Will Learn

• What expositional preaching is — and what it is not
• What theological convictions a preacher must hold to handle the Word of God faithfully
• How to approach a biblical text with the goal of drawing out its meaning rather than imposing ideas onto it
• The practical steps involved in preparing and delivering an expositional sermon
• Why faithful preaching is not just one mark of a healthy church among others but the foundation on which all the others rest
• How to recognise good preaching as a listener — and what to look for in a church where the Word is faithfully proclaimed
• Why expositional preaching is not a method or a style but a posture of submission to the authority and sufficiency of Scripture

How to Use This Book

Expositional Preaching is concise, accessible, and immediately useful:

• Preachers in training — An ideal introduction to the convictions and practices that make for faithful Bible exposition
• Experienced preachers — A sharp, clarifying resource for those wanting to examine and strengthen the foundations of their preaching ministry
• Preaching classes and seminaries — A reliable, accessible primer on expositional preaching for formal training contexts
• Church members — A short, engaging guide that equips any Christian to listen to sermons more actively and recognise faithful exposition when they hear it
• Small group or leadership team discussion — Useful for churches wanting to think together about what they value in preaching and why

Who Should Read This Book

This book is for you if you are:

• A preacher or pastor wanting a clear, biblically grounded account of what faithful expositional preaching involves and how to pursue it
• A preacher in training looking for a concise, practical guide to the convictions and skills that undergird faithful Bible exposition
• A church member who wants to understand what good preaching is — so you can listen more actively, grow more deeply, and recognise it when you hear it
• A church planter or elder wanting to establish a culture of faithful, expositional preaching from the very beginning of your ministry
• Anyone who has ever heard a truly great sermon and wondered: What exactly is happening up there — and how does a preacher learn to do that?

About the Author

David Helm is a pastor at Holy Trinity Church in Chicago, Illinois, and the chairman of the Charles Simeon Trust — an organisation dedicated to training preachers in faithful expositional preaching. He is the author of several books on preaching and biblical exposition and is widely recognised as one of the most thoughtful and practically grounded voices on preaching in the contemporary evangelical world. David brings to Expositional Preaching both the theological rigour of a careful Bible student and the hard-won wisdom of a pastor who has preached week in and week out for decades — and who has invested deeply in training the next generation of faithful expositors.

About the Building Healthy Churches Series

Expositional Preaching is part of the Building Healthy Churches series published by 9Marks and Crossway — a library of short, focused books designed to help churches recover and embody the marks of a healthy, gospel-centred congregation. Each volume tackles one essential aspect of church health with biblical clarity, pastoral warmth, and practical application.

Other titles in the series include:

• Evangelism by J. Mack Stiles
• Deacons by Matt Smethurst

The series is ideal for pastors, church leaders, and members who want to think carefully and act faithfully in building churches that display the glory of God and make disciples of all nations.